Legislature to Consider Protection of Watersheds

Forthcoming work on water issues for the Legislature will go beyond establishing guidelines for the $2 billion water infrastructure fund approved by voters in 2013 to include protection of watersheds and aquifers — a complicated issue, since most of these lie within private lands. Andrew Sansom, director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, cites House Speaker Joe Straus in urging members of the House Natural Resources Committee to consider effective methods of protection and stewardship of privately owned lands in support of the state's water supply — in particular, allocating funds to purchase development rights from private landowners in critical watersheds. (Houston Chronicle)